Updated May 11, 2013.

That women with breast cancer suffer from depression comes as no great surprise. Breast cancer brings many drastic changes including the threat of death and more immediate concerns of coping with chemotherapy, surgery, medical expenses and changing body image. A more fascinating development is the emerging evidence that depression may be a predictor for breast cancer risk. A report released from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 2000 presented a compelling look at a possible mind-body link in what has been considered a purely physical illness.


 

Researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health conducted their study , which spans a period of 13 years, in East Baltimore as part of the Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) Program. In 1981, they conducted interviews to determine whether participants had ever suffered from major depression, frequent dysphoric episodes or neither. In 1994 they conducted a follow-up survey to determine if these same women had contracted cancer and if so what type. What researchers found was that participants with a history of depression were four times more likely to develop breast cancer. No such link was found with other cancer types.

Researcher Dr. Daniel E. Ford did caution that the increased risk could not be measured with precision because "only 25 women developed breast cancer during the follow-up period. Three of those 25 women had a history of major depression." (The article this quote was obtained from is no longer archived at PlanetRx.)

Investigators in this study admitted that what these results really mean is still uncertain.

They speculated that perhaps prostate cancer, which is also a hormonally mediated cancer, might be connected to depression in a similar way. The complete article can be found in the September 2000 issue of Cancer Causes and Control (2000;11;8:751-758)

This link between psychological health and breast cancer has not been consistently found in other research. A study reported in the September 1999 issue of Health Psychology (1999;18;5:1-12), found no connection between depression and breast cancer. 46 studies looking at a potential link were analyzed by researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They found that anxious or depressed women, women who experienced a difficult childhood, and women who suppressed their anger were no more likely to develop breast cancer than other women.

This same analysis did yield a modest statistical correlation between breast cancer and conflict-avoidant personalities, denial- or repressive-style of coping, stressful life events, and separation from or loss of a loved one. The researchers noted that correlation should not be confused with causation, but added that further investigation should focus on the personality types for which they found some significant statistical link.

Even those in the alternative medicine field have observed a link between emotion and breast cancer. Energy healers point to disturbances in the "heart chakra", which is associated with issues of love, compassion, confidence, inspiration, hope, despair, hate, envy, fear, jealousy, anger, generosity, as being the cause of breast cancer.

Traditional physicians say this link may exist, but for more mundane reasons. Proposed mechanisms of cancer causation include immune system suppression caused by increased stress hormones and certain antidepressants as tumor promotors.  

Whatever the true nature of the link, it would seem that it merits further investigation but it is too soon for depressed women to become concerned. In an interview with Reuter's Health, Dr. Ford was quoted as saying, "I don't think the message should be that women with depression should worry about developing breast cancer. These results need to be replicated."